Jesse Jackson: After Dallas And Baton Rouge, We Need Action

Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks to friends and family during the funeral of Alton Sterling at Southern University on July 15, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Sterling was shot by a police officer in front of the Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge on July 5th, leading the Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

After speaking at the funeral Alton Sterling last weekend, Rev. Jesse Jackson penned the following statement on July 17 released by Rainbow Push Coaliton:

As the Republican Party holds its national convention in Cleveland, Americans have been shaken by the shootings of police in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La., following the police shootings of black men in Baton Rouge and Falcon Heights, Minn. I spoke at the funeral of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, weeping with his family and friends, as they remembered and mourned their loved one. I spoke later at the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, leaders of the police in different communities, and witnessed their tears as they mourned the deaths of their fellow police officers in Baton Rouge.